Costs of the most expensive film productions worldwide 2022

As of the end of June 2022, the most expensive production of all time was the fourth installment of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series - "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", directed by Rob Marshall and starring Hollywood stars Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, and Geoffrey Rush, among others. The movie was produced by Disney Studios and cost approximately 378.5 million U.S. dollars to make. The source added that if the budget of "Cleopatra" (1963) was adjusted for inflation, it would add up to around 260 million dollars in mid-2022, placing the Elizabeth Taylor-starring extravaganza closer to Disney's "Tangled" (2010).

The (not so) hidden cost of a movie

A high budget suggests that the studio behind the film believes the movie will be so profitable it will far surpass its pricy costs. But the figure covers only production-related costs. The largest film production companies often invest big sums of money in marketing to promote their new releases. The advertising expense of the Walt Disney Company, for instance, grew by 17 percent in 2021, reaching 5.5 billion dollars.

Go big film budget or go home

Similarly, Sony's annual advertising costs amounted to billions of dollars in the past few years. The Japanese holding runs Columbia, one of the leading studios both in the United States and worldwide. Publicizing a big-budget movie may pay off. Many of the titles in this ranking are also among the world's highest-grossing films of all time, including "Avatar" (2009), "Avengers: Endgame" (2019), and "Titanic" (1997).